Hibernation & Emergence: A Poetry Untensive (virtual) with Basma Kavanagh

Intensive (and ‘untensive’) workshops combine elements of WFNS’s traditional creative writing and professional development workshops with peer-to-peer feedback (facilitated by the instructor) to guide writers through the critique, revision, and submission processes that form the path from completed draft to submitted manuscript.

Participants must have a completed draft before the workshop begins and must commit to reading other participants’ drafts between workshop sessions.

Bridging the introspective energy of deep winter and the momentum of lengthening days, this slowed down intensive—or ‘untensive’— workshop will cultivate creative quietude and reflection before shifting towards craft discussion and manuscript feedback. Through sharing insights, inspiration, and dreamwork, responding to prompts and meditative practices, and reading and commenting on one another’s works-in-progress, instructor and participant contributions will shape a supportive and meaningful co-learning environment.

Sessions will be held once every two weeks, with prompts and exercises on alternate weeks. A dedicated chat channel (via the free- and easy-to-use Slack app) will provide a space for discussion and sharing between sessions. Mindful of the Buddhist adage “not too tight, not too loose,” we will balance various aspects of solitude, creativity, collaboration, and community, nourishing a healthy writing practice as winter becomes spring.